Bottle-washing machine.



PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

G. R. LAWRENCE.

BOTTLE WASHING MACHINE.

I I Z t a t t A UNITED STATES PATENT FFIOE.

GEORGE R. LAWRENCE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO LOEVV SUPPLY & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF ORANFORD, NEW JER- SEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 22,1904. Serial No. 237,918.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GnoReE R. LAWRENCE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Washing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to bottle-Washing machines, and more particularly to that class of such machines comprising a series of bottleholding receptacles arranged in transverse rows between endless chains to which they are attached and by which they are supported, forming an endless conveyer. It has been found in practice that when a machine of this class is loaded with bottles there is a tendency for the rows of receptacles to sag at the-middle between the places of their attachment to the chains referred to. This action on the part of the receptacles alters the distance between the inner ends of such receptacles, and when they are moving in a curved path such inner ends interfere with each other and hinder the proper operation of the machine.

It is the purpose of my invention to provide means whereby this disadvantage is overcome; and to that end my invention consists in providing such rows of bottle-holding receptacles with means adapted to keep them predetermined spaces apart even when fully loaded.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of an endless conveyer comprising a chain and transverse bottle-holding receptacles and provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section on the plane of the line 2 2 in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a perspective of two of the adjacent spacing members arranged as they are when assembled, but without the intermediate portion of the bottle-holding receptacle to which they are attached.

In the drawings, 10 10 represent links in an endless chain, each link being provided with a laterally-extending bracket 11 11, to which are secured at their opposite ends the plates 20 21 of the bottleholding receptacles 22. Each row of bottle-holding receptacles is made up of two plates or sheets of sheet-iron 2O 21, which are stamped out so as to be expanded in a semicylindrical or semiconical form at proper v intervals apart, such semicylinders or semicones being brought opposite each other to form one bottle-holding pocket, the plates 20 and 21 being held together between such pockets by suitable rivets 24.

The device so far as described forms n part of my invention.

In the spaces between the bottle-pocketsI provide the spacing members 30- 30, each consisting of a right-angled plate 31 32, the part 31 being parallel to the plates 20 and 21 and the part 32 at a right angle thereto. This latter plate is grooved or hollowed out at 33 33 to correspond with the curved outline of the outer surface of the bottle-cage with which it is brought into contact. I have arranged these spacing members in pairs, so that in each instance one member 32' extends, in one direction and the member 32 of the adjacent bracket extends in the opposite direction, both being secured by a single rivet 24. I have also found it advisable to arrange the brackets or spacing members so that there is a series of them in a line a in the center of the apparatus substantially parallel to the line of movement of the conveyer and at right angles to the row of bottle-holding receptacles. I have also found it advantageous in cases where the machine is of considerable Width to place other rows 6 and 0 of such spacing members substantially parallel to the series a, but arranged substantially midway between the series a and the chain on each side of such series. By this arrangement each row of bottleholding receptacles is supported from the row immediately beneath it at several points spaced predetermined distances'apart and the sagging referred to is eifectuallyprevented, and consequently the conveyer moves on its curved path without interference.

What I claim as new is 1. In a machine of the class described, an endless conveyer provided with transverse bottleholding receptacles arranged in rows, in combination with means intermediate the ends of said rows to prevent them from sagging and keep them at predetermined spaces apart. 1

2. In a machine of the class described, an

endless conveyer provided with transverse bottleholding receptacles arranged in rows, in combination with means adapted to keep such rows at predetermined spaces apart, said means consisting of spacing members each secured to one of the rows of receptacles inter- Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

mediate its ends and reaching to an adjacent row.

3. In a machine of the class described, an endless conveyer provided With transverse bottle-holding receptacles arranged in rows, in combination with means adapted to keep such rows at predetermined spaces apart, said means consisting of a plurality of spacing members secured to the rows of receptacles, intermediate their ends, each member extending from the row to which it is secured to an adjacent row.

4. In a machine of the class described, the combination with two rows of the bottle-holding receptacles, of spacing members secured to one of said rows intermediate its ends and adapted to keep the rows a predetermined space apart. 1

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a plurality of rows of bottle-holding receptacles, of two spacing members, each secured to one of said rows intermediate its ends and adapted to keep said row a predetermined space apart from the adjacent rows on each side thereof.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE R. LAWRENCE.

WVitnesses:

F. H. BIERMANN, WM. F. BIERMANN. 

